DC Is An Event Town, And Stephen Strasburg's Debut Is An Event Like None Other

The following was submitted by Patrick Reddington of Federal Baseball:

-----

Washington, D.C. is an event town. I can't tell you how many times I've been told this about the nation's capital in the five years since my Expos relocated from Montreal to D.C., when I've wondered aloud why it was that MLB was determined to relocate the first major league team to play outside of the United States to a city that had already lost two franchises to relocation and hadn't had a team call it home in over 30 years. That first year, in 2005, or at least the first half of it, those who told me about Washington, D.C. were right. The return of baseball to the nation's capital was an event. Fans packed RFK Stadium that first season, 33,651 a game (according to The Baseball Almanac's figures), as the Nationals got off to an improbable start, holding on to first place in the NL East as late as July 24th before a second-half free fall saw them go from 52-36 before to 29-45 after the All-Star Break.

In 2006 the Nationals went from 81 wins to 71, and 33,651 a game became 26,582. In '07, the first year under Manny Acta, the Nats managed to win 73 but drew only an average of 24,271. The 2008 season saw a jump in attendance when the opening of Nationals Park once again made going to a game an event, but the novelty wore off quickly as the Nats stumbled through a 102-loss season, and with 103 losses in 2009 the average attendance dropped to 22,716 per game. The low point, however, came on Opening Day 2010, when busloads of Phillies fans drove down from Citizens Bank, invading a park of stunned Nationals fans who had no idea how so many out-of-town fans had procured tickets to what is supposed to be the biggest home game on the schedule, but without opposing teams' fans buying up half of the seats, the Nats' have drawn just over 20,000 per game through the first 24 home games of 2010.

Coming off back-to-back 100-loss seasons, and an Opening Day that was ruined for many, not even a Nationals team that has exceeded expectations, hovering around .500 later in the season than they have since the inaugural '05 campaign, has drawn fans to the park. But He can. ESPN.com's Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) documented the spike in ticket sales for the Nats/Pirates game on Twitter back on May 31st when the Nationals confirmed the June 8th debut of the no.1 pick of the 2009 Draft, Stephen Strasburg:

    "The Nationals announced at about 7 p.m. that Strasburg is making his debut on June 8. At 8:30 p.m., I checked on their site for best...available seats for that date -- and it said right field corner. Now, at 9, it's saying no seats available. No official word on sellout yet."

Stephen Strasburg will make his MLB debut one day short of a year after he was selected out of San Diego State University on June 9, 2009. Strasburg was identified as the top prospect available in the '09 Draft more than a year before Bud Selig announced the Nats' pick. Nats fans followed his SDSU starts online. D.C. beat reporters started making pilgrimages to Tony Gwynn Stadium in San Diego to document his rise. After signing with Washington in mid-August just moments before the deadline to ink the year's draft picks, Strasburg went to the Florida instructional league where his first start was televised on ESPN. Strasburg's Arizona Fall League starts drew fans and writers all the way out to Phoenix and Surprise, Ariz., and put a national spotlight on Arizona Fall League games that previously had drawn little attention. Strasburg's first spring training start was on ESPN and the MLB Network. His minor league starts -- mostly sellouts -- have been broadcast locally in DC and nationally, and now his major league debut is on the MLB Network on Tuesday and there aren't many tickets to be found for a midweek game against the Pirates that is seen as a turning point for the D.C. franchise.

Buster Olney provided one last update on ticket sales:

    "Update this AM: Lowest price on Stubhub for Strasburg game tix is now $55. His starts, at the outset, will be an event, like a rock concert."

If it's an event, the fans will be there. Will every Strasburg start be the same? We'll see. As for Strasburg's first start, good luck getting in, Nats fans.